On February 17th, 2011, between 5:30pm and 6:00pm local time, the deaths of between three and 14 civilians were reported killed by Gaddafi forces in Bayda.
Ibm tweeted, quoting Al Jazeera: “Three demonstrators were killed and four wounded by Libyan security bullets in Al-Bayda city, east of Benghazi.”
@monakareem said: “Security forces kill 4 more protesters after a humanitarian organization in Geneva said snipers from rooftops killed 13 protesters in Al-Bayda city – AFP.”
Amnesty International wrote about the incident: “Members of the security and armed forces chased and shot at protesters – those who threw stones, as well as those who did nothing or who were running away. Seventeen protesters were killed in al-Bayda that day and scores were wounded.”
It quoted the father of one of the victims saying: “‘At about 4.15pm… we heard shooting in the neighbourhood, behind ‘Uruba Street and we heard the imam of the Green Mosque speaking to the soldiers with a loudspeaker… There were bullets, plastic bullets and live bullets, and youths were closing the streets with [makeshift barricades]. Safwan was at home and he called his little brother who was on the balcony to go inside. A bit later he went downstairs and stood with a neighbour on the corner opposite the house. It was quiet. My other children wanted to go downstairs and I went with them and took them to the supermarket by car and while there my cousin called me to go to the hospital… People were holding up and parading the bodies of people who had been shot dead and I did not realize that one of them was Safwan. He was shot in the head as he stood by the door of the mosque.’”
Another eyewitness told the NGO: “‘We were at the Green Mosque and when we tried to leave after prayer the area was surrounded by security forces, soldiers in green and blue uniforms. They had weapons for plastic bullets and for real bullets. We stayed in the mosque for about an hour unable to leave and then some tried to leave, going forward and coming back because of the security forces ahead. Safwan was by the door of the mosque when he was shot dead at about 5.30pm-6pm.”
Twitlonger said that 14 young men were killed on that day.
The incident occured between 5:30 pm and 6:00 pm local time.
Geolocation notes
Reports of the incident mention the city of Al Bayda (البيضاء), for which the generic coordinates are: 32.759849, 21.752794. Due to limited satellite imagery and information available to Airwars, we were unable to verify the location further.
